REGULAR WHEELS MODELS

The Regular Wheel models are basically miniatures that cannot
run very fast on the tracks. These models did not have suspension
in the wheels and were attached with a thick axle rod. Although
some of the models were released with different color wheels,
majority of them had gray or black plastic wheels.

The Aveling Bardford Road Roller (# 1), the Muir Hill Site
Dumper (# 2), the Cement Mixer (# 3), and the Messey Harris Tractor
(# 4), were the first four miniatures, released in 1953, in the
Regular wheels categories that became the famous 1-75 series later
on. It was not until 1954 when the London Bus (# 5) was included
into the range that caught attention of the children as the first
four models were not easily recognizable to children, while the bus
was a reasonably familiar model. After that every year a few new
models were introduced into the range with some color variations to
the old models.

Between 1953 and 1959 the range was marketed mainly to the
wholesale trade but some other chain stores were also placing
orders for their outlets. By 1960, one million models were
produced each week.

The competition to the matchbox series was never very great
until the formidable Hot Wheels range distributed in the U.S.A.
commenced in 1968. The Hot Wheels range was Mattel's answer to
Matchbox. They had a distinctive feature that Matchbox did not
have -- a thin axle wheel that could make the model run faster on
the track with low friction. Due to this new thing in the market
and Lesney sales dropping down Odell, reluctantly order his
Research and Development to find a system to compete with the
Matell's Hot Wheels system. The result was the birth of
Superfast Wheels.

For more information on "Regular Wheel" models please visit
My Matchbox Link Section.
There are other site that are dedicated to "Regular Wheel" issues with
plenty of information and pictures.